Thread: Giving Away Perks -- Possible and/or Ethical?

Often, on Princess cruises we have perks we are NOT going to use and I feel guilty not giving then to folks we've met who could really use them. Then, I wonder if it's possible to do this and ... mostly ... if it would be ethical?

Priority Tender Passes: These are GREAT ... but, sometimes for one reason or another we won't be using ours. Would it be so awful to give ours to another couple?

Internet Minutes: My DH would be extremely angry if I were to even look at a computer while we were cruising ... so we always have a bunch of unused free minutes.

We certainly never tell anyone we have these so that's not a problem. It's more that I hate having them sort of wasted .... Maybe they're ours to use BUT not ours to give away?

Your help/thoughts on this would be appreciated.

I will answer seriously for a change, LuLu. Those perks are to reward you, not some first time cruiser. So I am thinking it WOULD be unethical. Unless of course it is free drink coupons that you are giving ME!

I agree with Gene. After all, they are "loyalty" perks. Those perks were earned by your loyalty to Princess and they rewarded YOU with them.

That's a really interesting question! And I'm the newbie here, so take this for what it's worth, lol, but here goes:

Obviously, the cruise line meant these perks as a gift for YOU, to reward you for loyalty, etc. The question, actually, is whether you should give away these gifts or let them go unused and, therefore, wasted as a payment for such loyalty.

If I were the owner of the cruise line and you asked me that question, first I would ask what you would PREFER as perks,and try to give you those that next time.

But that being said, the bottom line of cruise lines is money; to make it, people have to keep cruising on our line (not just loyal past cruisers; we need new cruisers, too). The purpose of perks, therefore, is to keep people happy with their cruise and to keep them cruising on our line. So, as CEO of a fictional cruise line, I would rather see the unwanted perks given to some 'undeserving' customer, who may be so excited by their use that they decide to always sail on this cruise line in the future in order to rack up more of them, than to see the perks end up in the waste basket. I would just consider it a little advertising, which can go a long, long way.

Those little perks could change someone's not-such-a-great-day on the cruise to an awesome day on the cruise, and thus change their whole outlook and their decision on whether to cruise again. And who of you haven't bragged to others about the perks you get? Isn't that called word-of-mouth advertising??? And it's FREE. For the perks.

Just my 2 cents' worth; I haven't sailed enough to GET any perks, lol.

Great question.

I say go ahead and let someone else use the perks if you don't need them. I would trade them for something I like. A drink is always nice in the evening. Unless the cruise line indicates your perk is non transferrable. After all if it is not something you want to use it is not really a perk IMO. Maybe you should give it to someone in your frequent cruiser club or someone you know from the CLF roll call LOL . Lee

I do agree with Sierraslim and Lee. Why would there be a problem giving some perks away, which you re not going to use anyway, to someone that might be very happy with reciving the discount or 2 for 1 cupons.
It was never unethical to make someone happy by giving them (and yourself) a gift (as the perk wold be). It will never be unethical to share

I don't know how it is on Princess, but on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity you have to put your name and either the cabin number or your folio number on the coupons. They get checked when charges are being posted for the day and I imagine if someone used a freebie that they were not entitled to they might get charged for that service after the fact. The coupons are nontransferable.

Do any of our members have actual experiences of giving away coupons to folks who were newbies?

As far as the free internet minutes, I think it would be a moot point. As I recall, you have to swipe your card to access the computer and any charges are added to your account. The free minutes would be a credit to that account, therefore not transferable.

Not sure about the priority tender coupons since there's no charge for tenders anyway.

Originally Posted by Char

I don't know how it is on Princess, but on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity you have to put your name and either the cabin number or your folio number on the coupons. They get checked when charges are being posted for the day and I imagine if someone used a freebie that they were not entitled to they might get charged for that service after the fact. The coupons are nontransferable.

Do any of our members have actual experiences of giving away coupons to folks who were newbies?

The cupons on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity are nontransferable both to persons and cruises.

It is a very good question.
I think is depends on what the perk is that is being shared.
In the case of a tender ticket I agree that it would act as a good advertisement to the newer cruiser that you too can get these if you continue to sail with the line.

The the case of internet minutes Princess at one time offered unlimited internet to Elite passengers. They cut that back because people log in and leave it for other to access after them.

Although RCL coupons so have a place for name and folio number they do not always require it some some of them can be shared. Most of the coupons have been changed to be discounts instead of freebies so they can not be shared anymore.